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ESV First Person Method for Prayer

Thank God for the Appointing of the Redeemer and His Gracious Condescension

Thanksgiving 4.12 | ESV

For the appointing of the Redeemer and God’s gracious condescension to deal with men upon new terms, receding from the demands of the broken covenant of innocency.

I bless you that when sacrifices and offerings you did not desire, and in them took no pleasure, that then the eternal Son of God said, “Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, and a body have you prepared for me.” Hebrews 10:5-7(ESV) And that, as in the scroll of the book it was written of him, he did delight to do your will, O God; yes, your law was within his heart. Psalm 40:7-8(ESV)

You have granted help to one who is mighty, one chosen from the people: You have found David, your servant; with your holy oil you have anointed him, Psalm 89:19-20(ESV) even with the oil of gladness beyond his companions; Psalm 45:7(ESV) and you did promise that your hand should be established with him and your arm should strengthen him, Psalm 89:21(ESV) and that you would make him the firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth. Psalm 89:27(ESV)

I bless you that the Father now judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son; John 5:22(ESV) that as he has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself, and has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man; John 5:26-27(ESV) that the Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand; John 3:35(ESV) and that the counsel of peace is between them both. Zechariah 6:13(ESV)

That he is your servant, whom you uphold, your chosen in whom your soul delights; Isaiah 42:1(ESV) your beloved Son, with whom you are well pleased; Matthew 17:5(ESV) that you have given him as a covenant to the people; Isaiah 49:8(ESV) and that through him I am not under law but under grace. Romans 6:14(ESV)

That God so loved the world, as to give his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16(ESV)

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ESV First Person Method for Prayer

Thank God for His Eternal Purposes and Counsels Concerning Man’s Redemption

Thanksgiving 4.11 | ESV

For the eternal purposes and counsels of God concerning man’s redemption.

We ought always to give thanks to you, O God, because you have chosen some to salvation through sanctification by the Spirit: 2 Thessalonians 2:13(ESV) That there is a remnant, chosen by grace, Romans 11:5(ESV) whom God has chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, that they should be holy and blameless before you in love, having predestined them for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to yourself, according to the purpose of your will, to the praise of your glorious grace. Ephesians 1:4-6(ESV)

Yours they were, and you gave them to Christ; John 17:6(ESV) and this is your will: that you should lose nothing of all that you have given him, but raise it up on the last day. John 6:39(ESV)

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ESV First Person Method for Prayer

Thank God for His Grace to your Soul and for Design

Thanksgiving 4.10 | ESV

The goodness of his grace relating to our souls and the life that is to come.

But especially blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Ephesians 1:3(ESV)

1st, We must give God thanks for his kindnesses to the children of men, relating to their better part and their future state and his favors to the church in general.

We must give thanks for his gracious design and contrivance of man’s redemption and salvation, when he was lost and undone by sin.

O how wonderfully did the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appear! He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy: Titus 3:4-5(ESV) We had destroyed ourselves, but in you, and you only, was our help. Hosea 13:9(KJV)

When we were cast out on the open field, and no eye pitied us, you saw us wallowing in our blood, and said to us, “Live!” Yes, you said to us, “Live!” Ezekiel 16:5-6(ESV) And the time was a time of love. Ezekiel 16:8(KJV)

When the ransom of the life was so costly as that it could never suffice, and truly no man could ransom another or give to God the price of his life, Psalm 49:7-8(ESV) then you were pleased to find a ransom, that we might be delivered from going down into the pit. Job 33:24(ESV)

When we were doomed to die and were like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again, then did you devise means so that the banished ones might not remain outcasts. 2 Samuel 14:14 (ESV)

When you did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them into hell, 2 Peter 2:4(ESV) you said concerning the rage of mankind, “Do not destroy it, for there is a blessing in it.” Isaiah 65:8(ESV) Herein appears the secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for his people’s glory. 1 Corinthians 2:7(ESV)

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ESV First Person Method for Prayer

Thank God for the Measure of Peace you Experience

Thanksgiving 4.9 | ESV

For our own share in the public plenty, peace, and tranquility.

When I have eaten and am full, I have reason to bless you for the good land that you have given me, Deuteronomy 8:10(ESV) a land which the eyes of the LORD my God are always upon, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year. Deuteronomy 11:12(ESV)

You make peace in my borders and fill me with the finest of the wheat: Psalm 147:14(ESV) I am delivered from the sound of archers at the watering places; there, therefore, will I repeat the righteous triumphs of the LORD, the righteous triumphs of his villagers in Israel. Judges 5:11(ESV)

I thank you that the powers that are set over me are servants of God for my good; Romans 13:4(ESV) that they seek the welfare of your people and speak peace to all your people. Esther 10:3(ESV)

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ESV First Person Method for Prayer

Thank God for your Successes and Good Relationships

Thanksgiving 4.8 | ESV

For success in our callings and affairs, comfort in relations, and comfortable places of abode.

It is God who equips me with strength and makes my way blameless, Psalm 18:32(ESV) who has blessed the work of my hands; Job 1:10(ESV) and it may be that though my beginning was small, yet my latter days will be very great. Job 8:7(ESV)

My house has been safe from fear, and there has been no rod of God upon me; Job 21:9(ESV) so that glad songs of salvation have been in my tent from day to day. Psalm 118:15(ESV)

With my staff it may be I have crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps; Genesis 32:10(ESV) and it is God who settles the solitary in homes. Psalm 68:6(ESV)

If I have enjoyed life with my relations, Ecclesiastes 9:9(ESV) and they have been to me as a lovely deer, a graceful doe, Proverbs 5:19(ESV) I must give you thanks for it; for every creature is that to me, and no more, that you make it to be.

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ESV First Person Method for Prayer

Thank God for the Supports and Comforts of this Life

Thanksgiving 4.7 | ESV

For the supports and comforts of this life, which have thus far made the land of our pilgrimage easy and pleasant to us.

Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears me up; God is my salvation. Psalm 68:19(ESV)

You make me lie down in green pastures; you feed me beside the still waters. Psalm 23:2(ESV) You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head, and my cup overflows. Psalm 23:5(ESV)

It may be I was sent out with no moneybag or knapsack, but did I lack anything? Nothing, Lord. Luke 22:35(ESV)

The lamp of God has shone upon my head, and by his light I have walked through darkness, and the friendship of God has been upon my tent. Job 29:3-4(ESV)

You have richly provided me with everything to enjoy, 1 Timothy 6:17(ESV) and have brought plentifully into my hand. Job 12:6(KJV)

Many a time I have eaten and been filled, and have delighted myself in your great goodness. Nehemiah 9:25(ESV)

When I remember all the ways that the LORD my God has led me for so many years in this wilderness, Deuteronomy 8:2(ESV) I must here set up a stone and call it Ebenezer, for till now the LORD has helped me. 1 Samuel 7:12(ESV)

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ESV First Person Method for Prayer

Thank God for Granting you Recovery from Danger

Thanksgiving 4.6 | ESV

For signal recoveries from danger by sickness or otherwise.

When perhaps there has been but a step between me and death, 1 Samuel 20:3(ESV) and when I have felt that I have received the sentence of death, 2 Corinthians 1:9(ESV) and have been ready to say, “In the middle of my days I must depart; I am consigned to the gates of Sheol for the rest of my years”; Isaiah 38:10(ESV) yet in love you have delivered my life from the pit of destruction and cast all my sins behind your back. Isaiah 38:17(ESV)

When the snares of death have encompassed me and the pangs of Sheol have laid hold on me, I have called on the name of the LORD and have found that gracious is the LORD, and righteous, yes, my God is merciful; I have been brought low, and he has saved me, Psalm 116:3-6(ESV) and has delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, and my feet from stumbling. I will therefore walk before the LORD in the land of the living. Psalm 116:8-9(ESV)

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ESV First Person Method for Prayer

Thank God for Preserving you

Thanksgiving 4.5 | ESV

We must give thanks for our preservation; that our lives are prolonged and the use of our reason and understanding, our limbs and senses, are continued to us.

It was owing to your good providence that I did not die at birth, and did not come out from the womb and expire; that the knees received me, and the breasts, that I should nurse. Job 3:11-12(ESV)

Though before birth I was called a rebel, Isaiah 48:8(ESV) yet by your power I have been borne by you from before my birth and carried from the womb; Isaiah 46:3(ESV) and you keep my soul among the living and have not let my foot slip. Psalm 66:9(ESV)

All my bones shall say, “O LORD, who is like you!” Psalm 35:10(ESV) For you keep the bones, and not one of them is broken. Psalm 34:20(ESV)

I lay down and sleep, for you, LORD, make me to dwell in safety. Psalm 4:8(ESV)

You have commanded your angels concerning me, to guard me in all my ways; to bear me up in their hands, lest I strike my foot against a stone. Psalm 91:11-12(ESV) And they are all ministering spirits, sent out to serve for the good of those who are to inherit salvation. Hebrews 1:14(ESV)

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ESV First Person Method for Prayer

Thank God for Making you in His Image

Thanksgiving 4.4 | ESV

Secondly, With reference to ourselves in particular.

We must give thanks that he has made us reasonable creatures, capable of knowing, loving, serving, and enjoying him, and that he has not made us like the beasts that perish.

We praise you, for we are fearfully and wonderfully made; and that our souls, our nobler part, know very well; Psalm 139:14(ESV) for no man knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him. 1 Corinthians 2:11(ESV)

You have made us of that rank of beings which is a little lower than the heavenly beings and is crowned with glory and honor; Psalm 8:5(ESV) for it is the spirit in man, the breath of the Almighty, that makes him understand; Job 32:8(ESV) and the spirit of a man is the lamp of the LORD. Proverbs 20:27(ESV)

Our bodies are capable of being the temples of the Holy Spirit, 1 Corinthians 6:19(ESV) and our souls of having the Spirit of God dwell in them; 1 Corinthians 3:16(ESV) we therefore glorify you with our bodies and with our spirits, which are both yours. 1 Corinthians 6:20(KJV)

You, Lord, have formed us for yourself, that we might declare your praise. Isaiah 43:21(ESV)

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ESV First Person Method for Prayer

Thank God for the Many Instances of His Goodness and Kind Providence (continued)

Thanksgiving 4.3 | ESV

The heavens are the LORD’s heavens, but the earth you have given to the children of man; Psalm 115:16(ESV) and you have put all things under their feet, and given them dominion over the works of your hands; Psalm 8:6(ESV) so that the fear of man and the dread of man is upon every beast of the earth and upon the birds of the heavens, and into his hand they are delivered; Genesis 9:2(ESV) because you had a favor to him and delighted in the children of man. Proverbs 8:31(ESV)

You cause the grass to grow for the livestock and plants for man to cultivate, that you may bring forth food from the earth and wine to gladden the heart of man, oil to make his face shine, and bread to strengthen his heart. Psalm 104:14-15(ESV)

You give to all life and breath and everything; Acts 17:25(ESV) and the earth, O LORD, is full of your steadfast love. Psalm 119:64(ESV)

All the creatures look to you, to give them their food in due season. When you give it to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are filled with good things. Psalm 104:27-28(ESV) When you send forth your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the ground. This, your glory, shall endure forever, and you rejoice in these works. Psalm 104:30-31(ESV)

It is through your goodness, O Lord, that as one generation of mankind goes, another generation comes; Ecclesiastes 1:4(ESV) and that you have not blotted out the name of that corrupt and guilty race from under heaven. Deuteronomy 29:20(ESV)